1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cellular units for use in wiring or electrical distribution systems. More particularly, the invention pertains to a cellular unit having an improved butt joint to prevent the existence of gaps between laterally adjacent cells of cellular units occurring at the butt joint.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wiring, or electrical distribution systems are commonly used to provide a means to distribute various power and communication lines throughout a building. In many applications, such systems often include the use of cellular units which are secured upon a floor of a building or structure during construction. A layer of concrete is then poured upon floor to embed the cellular unit within. Various inlets or presets, which are connected to the cellular units, extend upwardly from the concrete to allow access to the various cells of the cellular units.
During installation, cellular units are placed in an end to end abutting fashion upon the floor. It has been found that butt joints formed between the ends of cellular units typically allow a gap therebetween. The exterior surface of the cellular units at these butt joints are commonly taped to the prevent the ingress of concrete, however, the gap between cells remains open at these butt joints. Consequently, the possibility exists that various wires pulled or feed through the cellular unit could crossover from one cell to another. Further, misalignment of the cellular units increases the possibility of such crossover and additionally creates the potential problem that raw metal edges of the misaligned cells at the butt joints can result in wire stripping as the wires are drawn across these edges.
As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the cellular unit of present invention solves the aforementioned problems and employs a number of novel features that render it highly advantageous over the prior art.